integrity & ethical behavior

Integrity and ethical behavior are guiding forces behind our personal and professional conduct. As signatories of the UN Global Compact, we strive at all times to uphold its principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, the environment and anti-corruption, and we cooperate with international and local communities to address them.

We reaffirmed our commitment to ethical practices across the business and recognized those in place in our operating companies by finalizing a renewed code of conduct in 2009: Randstad’s Business Principles. Randstad’s business principles are set around and are supportive of our core values. They project a positive message, guide us to live up to our values and ensure that the needs of the world in which we work and our business and personal behavior are aligned and reinforce one another.

Randstad’s business principles are communicated via our website and through internal communication channels across the Group. They are also included in the company introduction package received by every new employee. All corporate employees followed a training program in 2010 covering the company’s history and core values. The training also focused on creating awareness of and compliance with the corporate principles and related policies that specifically address anti-trust and the reporting of misconduct within the Randstad Group. In 2011 we have implemented a policy regarding anti-bribery, gifts and hospitality.

In order to expedite the reporting of misconduct, including any behavior that constitutes a violation of our business principles, we encourage reporting any infringement directly to local management and through established operational channels. Should these reporting lines be considered inappropriate or likely to be ineffective, or should a complainant fear retaliation, they can turn to our misconduct reporting procedure. Employees are provided with a local dial-in number, information in local languages and access to an independently hosted website. This facility offers the option to report misconduct anonymously while still allowing communication between the two parties.